Squall that nailed the group of center backs inductile within the opening 135 minutes of the season has thrown Ron Vlaar into a conceivably avid new circumstance. His switch over to the left half of the back line, made to accommodate Jores Okore, is the first of his time at Villa. That has aligned Vlaar closer to the giddiest of through-ball targets: Gabriel Agbonlahor himself.

Vlaar’s nine through-ball attempts since debuting last year in August are alone more than the total seven tried by fellow starting center backs Nathan Baker (five), Ciaran Clark (two) and still dewy Okore (zero) during the Vlaar frame. Below is the full look at who each targeted with those attempts.

Vlaar (9)

3 to Bent

3 to Benteke

1 to Agbonlahor

1 to Ireland

1 to Weimann

Baker (5)

2 to Bent

2 to Benteke

1 to N’Zogbia

Clark (2)

1 to Benteke

1 to Weimann

###

BUSY OUTSIDE

Newcastle tends to play persistently anxious with the ball, a style that can be comfortably harnessed if defenders don’t try too furiously keep up with it.

In the second half of the Magpies’ 1-0 defeat of Fulham, they had four of their first five attempts from outside the penalty area blocked before Ben Arfa broke through with his 24-yard winner. Fulham didn’t block one of Newcastle’s four outside attempts afterward, slackening the defensive base to pursue an equalizer more vigorously.

Villa’s ability to knock down shots from the outside has been plausible thus far. The squad’s five blocks among 12 tries by foes from the outside — a 41.6 percent block rate — is currently tied for third-best in the league. Below is the full list.

Outside Shots Blocked

Premier League Percentages

Outsiders Blocked/Outsiders Conceded

44.1 Fulham (15/34)

42.1 Cardiff (8/19)

41.6Aston Villa (5/12)

41.6 Manchester City (5/12)

41.6 Norwich (5/12)

41.2 Sunderland (7/17)

35.0 Liverpool (7/20)

33.3 Southampton (4/12)

27.7 Crystal Palace (5/18)

26.1 Hull City (6/23)

26.1 West Brom (5/19)

25.0 Stoke City (2/8)

23.1 Chelsea (3/13)

23.1 Everton (3/13)

23.1 West Ham (6/26)

23.1 Swansea (3/13)

17.6 Arsenal (3/17)

16.6 Manchester United (3/18)

16.6 Tottenham (2/12)

0.0 Newcastle (0/6)

###

ESCAPE TEAM

More familiar faces will be loose around the PL now that Darren Bent (Fulham), Barry Bannan (Crystal Palace) and Stephen Ireland (Stoke City) are offloaded elsewhere in the top flight. They’ll join a group of formerly permanent Villans who have had mixed results since leaving town amid varying circumstances.

Below is the comparison between the amount of minutes each of the last nine in-league departures played during their final season at the Villa and the amount they have averaged each season since.